Chapter 41
FORTY-ONE
MAVE
Ipaused in my excitement that we were finally going to be leaving this godforsaken piece of land, and I peered over at Knox. His brow was furrowed and he just looked… beaten down.
Fuck. I probably owed him a conversation before we ran off.
Blake noticed the direction of my gaze.
“Take a couple of minutes, Wolf Girl,” he murmured in my ear. “I’ll be right here.”
I approached Knox, still wearing only Blake’s T-shirt, and motioned for him to follow me to the side of the group. He did so wordlessly and without question, stopping to stand in front of me with his shoulders hunched and his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“So it’s true, then?” he asked, his icy eyes boring into mine. “Agnon thinks he can break the bond between us?”
I nodded. No sense in sugarcoating this for him. We’d all had a shitty night, and the depths to which the Alpha had demonstrated he would sink to force Knox and me together only further proved I was making the right decision.
Knox had to feel it, too.
“He and Ian think we have a good chance at success, at least.”
He just nodded wordlessly, staring at his bare feet where we stood in the trampled grass.
“Knox,” I said, with as much gentleness as I could muster. “Surely you can’t want to keep this bond in place? Surely it’s felt as sick and rotten inside of you as it has for me since the instant you rejected me on the first day of school?”
He winced at that. “I…. No. No, I don’t want to keep feeling this.
You’re right.” He lifted his eyes to mine again.
“I know I already said my piece last night at the dance. I fucking hate how this feels, but I am so… so fucking mad at myself for how I treated you those first few weeks. I’m pissed I didn’t realize how my dad was treating you.
And I’m really fucking sorry it took me so long to realize how different you are from all the other Pack girls I’ve known.
I’m sorry that I won’t ever know if it could’ve worked out between us. ”
He paused and sucked in a deep breath. “But yes. Please do what you can to get rid of this thing inside of me. It’s beyond repair and if there’s a chance we don’t have to live with it forever, and if it’ll get my dad to stop this insanity, then I am one hundred percent in favor of whatever magic shit you guys think it will take to fix it. ”
In that moment, I realized I felt just a little bit lighter. Having Knox’s support and blessing to go through with this was apparently a small weight off of my shoulders that I hadn’t known was there.
Just like at the dance, I reached out to squeeze his hand.
“You’ll make a good Alpha, Ice Man,” I said. “And someday, way, way in the future, I think you’ll make a good mate, too.”
He chuckled.
“Alright, get the fuck out of here. I’ll make sure this is all cleaned up and everyone is taken care of.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I trotted back over to Blake, and then we took off together out of the forest.
“Blake, I….” I lost my words as I stared around the rooftop patio of Ian’s condo building.
The sparse wicker furniture had been pushed to the sides, and in the middle of the space, lit by the moon’s soft light, was a large blanket surrounded by unlit candles.
There were cushions and decorative pillows spread out on the blanket, and a small bottle of champagne with two crystal flutes sitting on a small circular end table next to the blanket.
Blake stepped up behind me and flicked his wrist toward the candles, and they immediately sparked to life, filling the space with a bright yellow glow.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“It’s all for you, Wolf Girl,” he said softly next to my ear, hugging me from his spot behind me. “I set all of this up earlier this afternoon before our plans were… delayed.”
I snorted. “Yeah, starting all of this just a touch later than we thought.”
It was a few minutes after midnight, which meant it had only been six or so hours since I’d been snatched from behind the bar.
Blake and I had showered together after we’d arrived (no funny business since we were rushing to get started), and I’d donned a simple soft jersey dress that was sleeveless and white.
I’d packed it in my overnight bag on a whim, and it reminded me of something you’d would wear to an old-timey baptism in the river, but you know, with way more skin showing.
I didn’t know what one wore to an Unbinding spell ceremony, but this felt right.
I was barefoot, and my wet hair was in a simple braid that fell over my right shoulder.
Blake was a walking wet dream in fitted gray jogger pants and a tight white T-shirt.
I wasn’t sure if he’d matched me on purpose or if he’d defaulted to wearing white more since I’d once remarked I liked that I could see the outlines of his tattoos through the material, but either way, he was perfect.
He lead me into the center of the blanket nest, and we kneeled together on the cushions. He reached into his backpack and pulled out the grimoire pages, laying them on the ground between us. I could make out his ancestor’s barely legible chicken scratch and doodles.
Blake reached for my hands and grasped them lightly between us.
“Okay, Wolf Girl,” he breathed, giving me an encouraging smile.
“I’m going to recite the incantation for the spell, which is going to sound like a bunch of nonsense.
While I do that, I’m going to push my magic toward your center.
You’ll want your wolf to let me in as best she can—but I’m sure it’s going to feel weird and intrusive.
It’ll be my earth magic, so it should feel warm and kind of, uh… moist, maybe.”
“Weird,” I replied, giving him my best confident smile back, even though I was actually a ball of nerves. I trusted Blake implicitly and wasn’t afraid he’d hurt me. I’d endure a little more pain this evening if I had to, if that’s what it took to be free again.
He blew out a breath. “Okay. Here we go.”
He looked down between us at the spell, and he began to chant words that sounded very loosely like Latin. As he finished speaking, he met my eyes again, and I felt his magic pushing with a firm pressure on my chest.
I tried to relax and soothe my wolf.
Let him in, I urged her.
I felt her hesitance. Forging on anyway, I tried to do the opposite of what I would do if I were going to fight a power that was attacking me—I pulled my Alpha power inward, instead of pushing it out.
“That’s it, baby,” Blake said, excitedly. “I think I can feel the bond.”
I nodded, remaining focused on my task.
Relax.
Let him in.
Let go of the bond.
Be free.
Warmth spread through my body, and it did feel almost… wet, like Blake said it would. Then, the bond flared to life with a jolt of pain and nausea like I hadn’t felt since those first days after the rejection.
I gasped.
“Shit, okay hang on, baby,” Blake urged, and I felt a stronger push of the warmth. “It does not want to go quietly. I expected this. You’re doing so well.”
I dry heaved, thankful nothing was in my stomach since I hadn’t eaten since lunch. My wolf howled, but she didn’t resist. The pain increased.
“Blake!” I cried.
“I need your help, Mave,” he panted, becoming winded from his own exertion. “Push your Alpha power at the bond now, as hard as you can. Just like you used to have to do to weaken it—then I’m going to snap it like a fucking twig.”
I was barely holding it together, but my wolf apparently got the message.
With as much force as we’d had to use in our battle with the Alpha, she unleashed a surge of Alpha power intent on crushing the bond to dust. We’d never used this much power attacking the bond before because it was going to zap me of every ounce of power and energy I had.
This had to work now since I would have nothing left after.
“Oh fuck!” I cried again as I felt my power slam into the bond, which recoiled inside of me with another sharp pain. I gripped Blake’s hands with enough force to break his bones.
“Not today, you piece of magical fucking garbage,” Blake spat, and then I felt it.
The pain ceased in an instant, and the nausea receded into nothing. I quickly let go of my own power and collapsed in a heap on the soft cushions.
I was dizzy, but I felt light—like I was floating a few inches above the floor on a soft cloud. I felt around for the familiar ache of the bond and found it completely absent. I purposefully thought of Knox, and no unwelcome spikes of hurt, sickness, or longing followed.
Blake had collapsed next to me, and he reached for my hand.
“Well?” he said, his voice hoarse.
I turned my head to the side so that I could get lost in the beautiful depths of his emerald eyes before I passed out, which I could tell was imminent.
“It’s gone,” I croaked. “I’m free, Blake.”
He beamed at me. “I thought so. I felt the release of the magic. But I wanted to be sure.”
“I love you,” I murmured, my eyelids starting to flutter closed.
“I love you, Wolf Girl. Sleep.”
I felt him roll over to wrap his arms around me as I finally let myself succumb to the crushing exhaustion of this frightening, crazy, wonderful night.
I woke wrapped in silky navy blue sheets, still in my soft white dress from the night before.
I recognized Blake’s bed immediately, and I hummed with happy satisfaction as I burrowed further into his pillow, inhaling his scent like an obsessed clinger.
He was absent from his side of the bed, but I didn’t currently have the energy to worry about it or haul myself up and out of the room to find him.
Sunlight was peeking through the closed blinds, so it was probably at least mid-morning. As I snuggled Blake’s pillow, I touched my wolf and found her content and brimming with power.
That’s right—fuck a fated mate bond. No power boost needed here.
The door creaked slowly open, and Blake stuck his head in through the crack.
“You awake, baby?”
“Mmmhmm,” I hummed into the pillows. “Don’t make me get up.”